Pollution Filling Up Our Common Home

First of all, I believe everyone should read Pope Francis’s letter it goes into pollution, our care of the earth, climate change, and the throw-a-way mind set.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS: ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME.

POLLUTION AND OUR SISTER MOTHER EARTH

His words are a plea to our society that everyone needs to hear. To take a moment to look inside themselves on how to make a stance on a change as a society.

He reminds us that:

“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs” (1)

He goes on to say:

“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22).

“We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.” (2)

As a society, we keep taking foolishly of her natural abundances without any afterthought of replenishing or a complete ecological cycle of replacing what we take. We abuse our Sister Mother Earth for Instantaneous gratification with not even an afterthought. Society is depleting what God provided for us all.

We need to change our mindset as a whole within society to see, live and replenish the natural beauty and abundance. Consequently, If we do not make this change then Sister Mother Earth will become nothing more than an Industrial Wasteland. Hence filled with the remnants of our instantaneous pleasures that we just had to have

SUSTAINABLE STATE OF MIND

“Through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker” (Wis 13:5); indeed, “his eternal power and divinity have been made known through his works since the creation of the world” (Rom 1:20). For this reason, Francis asked that part of the friary garden always be left untouched, so that wild flowers and herbs could grow there, and those who saw them could raise their minds to God, the Creator of such beauty” (12)

God created Earth and all of creation to be a beautiful natural regenerative cycle of ecology to be sustainable and all giving. This natural cycle gives us the nutrients that our body, mind, and soul need to thrive and survive. This natural cycle has existed since the beginning of time when God created it all. The Industrial Revolution started before the eighteenth century and that’s when everything started to change. The natural untouched garden continues to thrive without any pollution from industrial fumes, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides.

WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OUR COMMON HOME

“Some forms of pollution are part of people’s daily experience”

He says in chapter one as well as:

“There is also pollution that affects everyone, caused by transport, industrial fumes, substances which contribute to the acidification of soil and water, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and agrotoxins in general.” Chapter 1 pollution and Climate Change (20)

And Continues on to say:

“Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low” Chapter 1 pollution and Climate Change (21)

Pope Francis goes into issues affecting Our Common Home. In Chapter one he goes into pollution, Global Climate Change and The Culture we have developed. In our daily routines, we breathe in the pollutants that are filling up our common home. The pollution is affecting people who live in urban city settings but, also those in suburban and rural areas. We are all in the same common home together. We all feel the effects of pollutants on Sister Mother Earth but we continue on without any mass changes.

Our Common Home is a great analogy of Bioaccumulation because in a home there are interconnections that connect us. Bioaccumulation connects us as a society to the fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides. The connection is in the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink.

THE THROWAWAY CULTURE

“These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. To cite one example, most of the paper we produce is thrown away and not recycled. Chapter 1 pollution and Climate Change” (22)

A great first step to making a change in this throwaway culture is to recycle, reuse, and composting organic waste. We can also start living a more minimalist lifestyle. By only purchasing what we truly need and not gather instantaneous gratification purchases.

IS IT GETTING HOT IN HERE?

“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it” Chapter 1 pollution and Climate Change (23)

And he continues:

“Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes.”

And he also says:

“Things are made worse by the loss of tropical forests which would otherwise help to mitigate climate change. “ Then goes onto say “ Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods.” Chapter 1 pollution and Climate Change (23)

We as humans are contributing in part to Global Warming. Our Common House is getting warmer and warmer and we still hesitate to make changes together. We need to take a stand before it’s too late. Permaculture is one solution to combat humans contributions to global warming by bringing back the natural ecology of agriculture.

RECOGNITION

“I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest.” My appeal (13)

There are people making changes to try to make a sustainable, a better life for us and future generations. People who want to lower the pollution in our common home.